Edith Tolkien

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Edith Mary Tolkien (born 21 January 1889 – 29 November 1971) was the wife and muse of novelist J. R. Tolkien's fictional characters L'homme and Arwen Evenstar, as well as the inspiration for his fictional characters Lthien Tinviel and Arwen Evenstar.

Early life

Edith Bratt was born in Gloucester on January 21st, 1889. Frances Bratt, her mother, was 30 years old, single, and the daughter of a local shoe and bootmaker.

According to Humphrey Carpenter, Frances Bratt never married, and Edith's father's name is not listed on her birth certificate. Nevertheless, Frances is said to have always owned a photograph of him and his name was known within the Bratt family. Edith, on the other hand, was always aware of having been born out of wedlock, but she never told her own children the names of their grandfathers.

Edith's father, according to new data, was identified as Birmingham paper dealer Alfred Frederick Warrilow, who had previously employed Frances Bratt as governess to his daughter, Nellie Warrilow. In 1891, Warrilow named Frances as his sole executrix in his will.

Edith was brought up in Handsworth, a suburb of Birmingham, by her mother and also her cousin, Jenny Grove (related to Sir George Grove). Edith's birth, according to Humphrey Carpenter, was a regular topic of neighborhood gossip.

Frances Bratt died when her daughter was 14 and Edith was sent to the Dresden House boarding school in Evesham. The Watts sisters, who had studied music in Dresden, were responsible for the school. Edith was able to recall it fondly despite the fact that the school had a very "strict curriculum." Edith "first discovered her passion and talent for playing the piano at the Dresden House School."

Edith was supposed to be a concert pianist or at the very least a piano teacher after school. Edith's guardian, solicitor Stephen Gateley, discovered her rooms at Mrs. Faulkner's boarding house on 37 Duchess Road, Birmingham, as he considered how to proceed.

"was a gloomy, creeper-covered house, draped with dingy lace curtains," the boarding house on 37 Duchess Road was described as "a gloomy, creeper-covered house." Mrs. Faulkner, whose husband Louis was "a wine merchant with a passion for his own products," owned and operated the center. Mrs. Faulkner was also a Roman Catholic and "an active participant" of the parish attached to the nearby Birmingham Oratory.

Mrs. Faulkner hosted musical soirées that were often attended by the Oratory's priests. She was delighted to have a pianist accompanying the soloists in Edith. "Now, Edith dear, that's enough for now," as Edith began to practice.

Edith maintained that her life on 37 Duchess Road was "strictly restricted" in later years. Edith, a lifelong lover of the theatre, announced that she was going to a matinée at the Theatre Royal. "She must read in the interval to reduce the likelihood of being talked to by strangers," Mrs. Faulkner told her.

Edith was first introduced to Tolkien in 1908, when he and his younger brother Hilary were relocated to 37 Duchess Road by their guardian, Fr. The Birmingham Oratory's Francis Xavier Morgan. Tolkien, who was known in his family as Ronald, was 16 years old when Edith was 19.

According to Humphrey Carpenter,

However, before the year, the couple's guardian of Tolkien had been intimate with the child. Edith was seen as a distraction from Tolkien's schoolwork and deeply repressed by her Anglican faith until Tolkien became a legal adult at 21.

As Father Morgan's guardianship lasted, Tolkien grudgingly adhered this instruction to the letter. On the evening of his twenty-first birthday, Tolkien wrote a letter to Edith, who had since moved to Cheltenham. It contained a vow of his love and begged her to marry him. She replied that she was already engaged but that she had done so out of a suspicion that Tolkien had forgotten her. Tolkien had travelled to Cheltenham within a week, where Edith met him at the railway station. Edith returned her ring and announced her engagement to Tolkien instead on the day.

Edith revealed that she was converting to Roman Catholicism at Tolkien's insistence in January 1913. Edith refused to attend the service because she was so involved in her local Anglican parish that she had to avoid the allegations at first. Despite Edith's misgivings, her landlord, a zealous Protestant, became enraged and immediately kicked her out of the house.

The Tolkiens were married in the Catholic Church of St Mary Immaculate on West Street in Warwick on March 22, 1916, and a blue plaque was unveiled at the church in July 2018 to celebrate this. The couple's week-long holiday was spent in Clevedon, North Somerset, and included a visit to the Cheddar Caves.

Edith and her cousin Jennie Grove moved to a cottage in Great Haywood, where she lived from April 1916 to February 1917. Tolkien began a course at the British Army signals school in Otley, and in order to be as close to his military camp as possible. Due to their wedding taking place during Lent, only the Marriage Service and not the Nuptial Mass were held; the couple were given a nuptial blessing at the Roman Catholic Church of St John the Baptist in Great Haywood.

Tolkien was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers, eventually serving in the 11th (Service) Battalion of the British Expeditionary Force in France on June 4th, 1916.

He later wrote:

Edith Tolkien's service in the Battle of the Somme was extremely difficult; she feared that any knock on the door would carry news of his death. The Tolkiens arranged a way for letters from the trenches to have coded messages to get around the British Army's postal censorship. Edith was able to track her husband's movements on a map of the Front by deciphering the code.

John Francis Reuel (16 November 1917 – 22 January 2003), Tolkien's first child, was born in Cheltenham, after Tolkien's return from France.

While Tolkien was stationed in Kingston upon Hull, Edith, and he went walking in the woods at nearby Roos, she began to dance for him in a clearing among the flowering hemlock.

The account of Beren and Lthien's meeting was inspired by this event, as well as the Song of Beren and Luthien.

The Tolkiens had three more children after World War I: Michael Hilary Reuel (1920–1981) and Priscilla Anne Reuel (1929–2022).

The family moved to Leeds and Oxford as a result of Tolkien's academic career. Edith was not an academic and had a difficult time dealing with her husband's coworkers and their families, according to Humphrey Carpenter. Edith's loneliness often manifested itself as authoritarianism, as she had no companionship other than the children and the servants. Tolkien's close friendship with the United States was another sign of her loneliness. Lewis, who was regarded as an outsider in her family, was regarded as an outsider.

According to Carpenter,

According to Humphrey Carpenter,

In a 1992 lecture, George Sayer recalled his time with the Tolkiens in the 1950s and 1960s.

Tolkien, a songwriter who suffered during his years, moved with Edith to Bournemouth, which was then a resort town coveted by the British upper class. Despite the fact that his success as a best-selling author made them both very popular in Bournemouth, Tolkien was never at ease in Bournemouth and left the company of his intellectuals. Edith, on the other hand, was finally functioning as a society matron, which had been Tolkien's intention in choosing their new residence in the first place. Edith loved spending time at Bournemouth's Miramar Hotel, according to their grandson Simon Tolkien.

Edith Tolkien died in Bournemouth on November 29, 1971, at the age of 82, and was buried in Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford. When Tolkien died 21 months later, she was buried with her.

Later life

According to Humphrey Carpenter,

George Sayer recalled his experience with the Tolkiens in the 1950s and 1960s in a 1992 lecture.

Tolkien decided to move with Edith to Bournemouth, which was then a resort town befaming the British upper class. Despite the fact that he was a best-selling author, Tolkien was never at ease in Bournemouth and left them largely in the company of his intellectuals. Edith, on the other hand, was at last in her role as a society matron, which had been Tolkien's intention in choosing their new residence in the first place. Edith loved spending time at Bournemouth's Miramar Hotel, according to their grandson Simon Tolkien, who writes on his website.

Edith Tolkien died in Bournemouth on November 29, 1971, at the age of 82, and was buried in Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford. When she died 21 months later, Tolkien was buried with her.

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